It may not pay to be an artist on The Simpsons, but it definitely pays if you’re a voice actor on the show. Hank Azaria, who voices blue-collar characters like Moe the bartender, Apu the store clerk, and Chief Wiggum, sold his 4,000-square-feet Soho, Manhattan apartment for $8 million to actress Meg Ryan last year, according to a new report in Variety. Azaria and his wife, Katie Wright, bought the apartment in 2005 from artist Cindy Sherman for $4.625 million.

Azaria and his wife are staying put in Manhattan. They purchased a $9.6 million three bedroom apartment in Central Park West. The couple also has a second home, a four-bedroom house (pictured below) nestled in the Beverly Hills canyons.

Azaria is not just a simpsons’ voice actor, he’s also an established actor who’s been in multiple movies, married to another well established tv actor, and his parents had/have high paying jobs as well and we all know it’s easier to make more money when you already have money.

Lifestyle of a typical animation voice actor, this is definitely not

jonhanson

And even if he only did the Simpsons it isn’t just any show, it’s the biggest animated show of all time and quite possibly the biggest television show period.

Toonio

Meanwhile the animators live in crappy apartment complexes eating ramen noodles and drowning in debt.

This only shows that animators should fight to get what deserve for their hard work. The problem is their individualistic mindsets to become animation supervisors (or whatever), only to get a marginal salary increase, don’t let them think straight,

jonhanson

It also shows the importance of being irreplaceable. So far writers, directors and animators have been replaced without killing the show but if the voices were replaced would the show continue?

MilloAF

Whenever an actor who plays a character in the show dies, they write the character off or just plain kill the character. It’s a sign of respect and I get that, but it’s interesting how the actors are the only ones considered irreplacebles and not any of the other artist.

If Dan Castellaneta were to die tomorrow, they would definitely end the show right there. No doubt.

Michael

“THIS PLACE IS A PALACE! I MEAN, I LIVE IN A SINGLE ROOM ABOVE A BOWLING ALLEY… and below another bowling alley!”

Mj Animo

That’s a nice place but the article is like something off of E! . Twisting facts, cynical and judgemental. And sour grapes. He earned it, and animators do OK. We’re not ‘rich’ but anyone doing something creative and fun for a living is blessed.

otterhead

Let’s not forget that he was more-or-less the star of the two live action Smurfs movies. He makes a nice salary from Simpsons, but you could likely buy this apartment from his earnings from those two films, easily.

I think the primary cast is irreplaceable but, at a cost of $250,000 per voice talent for one episode (down from when they made $440,000 per episode), it seems a bit ludicrous. If these were executive wages people would be screaming bloody murder. At 22 episodes a season that works out to be $5.5 million for a season. The last time I checked, that would cover the cost of roughly 35 – 40 artist related jobs (not including benefits).
The biggest question is, given the top heavy cost of producing this show, if the voice talent was paid even $50,000 per episode, could that help to bring more jobs back to the US? Probably not, but it is a nice thought thinking that that someone would be willing to take a pay cut to get jobs back in North America.

Ted

Too big – by the time you get the groceries all the way to the kitchen, the grapes have probably gone bad.